metformin

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)-related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, several provisional suspensions have been handed out in cases pending a formal hearing. This includes trainers Frederico Villafranco and Diana Morici, who have been issued provisional suspensions for separate alleged methamphetamine positives. Trainer Francisco Ramos remains provisionally suspended with two additional alleged clenbuterol positives to go with four prior pending clenbuterol cases. Five of these cases--including the two most recent--were from out-of-competition tests. The other...

The list of trainers that have been informed by the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) that a horse they train has tested positive for the controversial drug Metformin has grown by two. According to postings on the HIWU website, Greg Foley and James Lawrence II have been notified that horses under their care had Metformin in their system. Lawrence's positive came from the  horse Cherished Wish (Mshawish) in a May 23 race at Penn National in which she finished second. The Foley horse to test positive was Camaro...

Since the launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) drug testing program over a year ago, metformin has sucked up an awful lot of oxygen. Under HISA, there have been seven resolved cases and four pending cases involving metformin—perhaps not an especially large number on its own, until framed against the number of metformin cases adjudicated before the program went into effect. An Association of Racing Commissioners International's (ARCI) review of their database "going back decades" found five metformin cases for Thoroughbreds. All were from 2017 onwards. The...

Monday, HISA announced four new members to its Horsemen's Advisory Group, replacing six outgoing members. The advisory group was formed in 2022 to provide feedback to HISA from the boots on the ground in the racing industry. It is comprised of 18 members, representing a variety of viewpoints across the industry. We sat down with outgoing member David Ingordo to talk about how the group operates and what the experience was like. SF: Can you explain how members are chosen for this group? Is there a committee who picks them?...

The National HBPA has filed a 'motion to supplement the record' to their longstanding case currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in which they challenge the lawfulness of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. This new motion charges that it again shows that HISA, and not the FTC, is actually in charge of horseracing rules, pointing to the new policy governing how Metformin cases were handled. On Tuesday, June 4, HISA announced that some trainers whose horses had tested positive for Metformin would have their...

Trainer George Weaver is one of several trainers whose horses have tested positive for metformin who will have their suspensions deferred as the Board of Directors of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has requested additional review of the drug which is heavily prescribed and used to treat diabetes in people. "In line with HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control requirements, metformin is included in the Prohibited Substances List because there is no recognized therapeutic use for the substance in horses involved in Thoroughbred racing," HISA Board Chairman Charles Scheeler said...

Trainer Jonathan Wong's legal team has filed an application with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the agency to review an April decision by an FTC chief administrative law judge affirming an earlier Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) arbitration panel ruling which suspended Wong for two years and fined him $25,000 for a 2023 post-race metformin positive. Metformin is a type 2 diabetes drug that HISA has classified as a banned substance. The application for review asks the FTC to conduct a de novo review of chief administrative law...

On May 21, the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) reported on its website that the filly Devil Pays in Gold (Uncle Lino) tested positive for the banned substance Metformin in a race contested on Mar. 8 at Laurel. However, the ruling does not list a trainer, and for good reason. David Howard was listed as the trainer for the race, but he passed away seven days later, dying of a heart attack at age 45. He would not have known at the time that Devil Pays in Gold...

The attorney representing trainer George Weaver has been informed by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) that a split sample taken from the horse Anna's Wish (Dialed In) has confirmed the earlier finding that the horse raced with the banned substance metformin during the Mar. 16 Cicada S. at Aqueduct. Trainers whose horses have tested positive for what HIWU considers banned substances face suspensions of up to two years. Weaver will be allowed to run horses that have already been entered, but cannot continue to enter horses and his...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has affirmed an earlier Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) arbitration panel ruling against trainer Jonathan Wong, suspending him for two years and fining him $25,000 for a 2023 post-race metformin positive. Metformin is a type 2 diabetes drug that HISA has classified as a banned substance. The next step in the appeals process would be a request for review by the FTC of the FTC administrative law judge's decision, according to a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Unit (HIWU) spokesperson. Wong will instead take the...

A casino is supposed to be on the way, but in the meantime these are tough times for racing in Chicago and its only remaining racetrack, Hawthorne. They still don't have any outside revenue from a casino, their purses are meager and their simulcast signal gets lost on days like Saturday, when they went up against the likes of Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Keeneland, Oaklawn and Santa Anita. The handle Saturday was $1,019,178. It should have been three times that. We've seen a lot of tracks experiment with lower takeouts. The latest...

High-profile trainer Robertino Diodoro, who is serving a provisional suspension from the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) after the banned substance levothyroxine was found in his barn at Oaklawn Park, has entered a horse for the April 18 card at Lone Star Park. On opening night, he has entered Master of Disguise (Mastery) in a maiden special weight race with a purse of $33,000. Diodoro is eligible to race in Texas because the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) does not have jurisdiction in that state. Diodoro did not...